Instagram is an insta-good time!

Hello my faithful bloggies!  I know that I have been terrible at blogging as of late.  I'm working on it, I promise.  Pictures and adventure stories from Italia are on the way!

For those of you that just can't get enough of me, I'm on Instagram. 

Just look me up, @lb_dub77.  I'll wait...

Did you find me yet?  Okay, good.  Now press follow.  

Yes, that's it!  Now you have 'Arielle to-go'!

I post pretty regularly on there.  Honestly, what's not to love?  Pictures with filters and one lined explanations.  It's right up my alley.  It's quick, dirty, and gets the job done...lol.

I've been having a lot of fun with it.  The best part is being able to take pictures of what I am doing on-the-go and posting them right away.  It's 'real-time Arielle'.  Oh yeah!

Looking forward to seeing you all on my Instagram feed!

Day 7: Touring LA

We finally made it back to the good old US of A.  Woohoo!  It's good to be back in the states and even better to know that we are headed to Rodeo Drive.  Hooray for shopping!

First we stopped for pizza...

Then we headed on over to Rodeo Drive.

It was pretty cool, though much smaller than I thought it was going to be.  It's just a small street filled with high end stores.  Beautiful, yes.  Luxurious, yes.  Mall-like, no.

All the stores are in their own fancy buildings.

We made all the touristy stops...

Posed with the mannequins in Prada.

 Serious face.

 Glamazon face...lol.

Stud-muffin face.

And of course, stood in front of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Recognize it from a famous movie?  I'll give you a minute to pick your brain.  Did you get it yet?  That's right!  It's the hotel from "Pretty Woman".

 Now it's time to hop on a plane and head back to paradise. :)

Day 6: Cigars!

Just a warning...I am in no way condoning, promoting, or justifying smoking cigars, any tobacco products, or anything else that one may also smoke (You know what I am talking about...lol.).  So now that we have that out of the way...

I have a confession, while on the boat I smoked a cigar.  I am not and never, ever, ever will be a smoker, but yes, for special occasions, I'll smoke a cigar with the boys.  I know it's not the most ladylike thing to do, but it gets me points in the boys' club...so yeah I'll man up and take a few puffs...lol.  Hell, I'll even down a few sips of scotch with it!  (Just a few though, because scotch is kind of gross...lol.)

So since we were on a boat all together, for maybe the one and only time (hopefully not, but one never knows.  Yolo and all that...lol.), we decided to smoke some cigars.  All the boys got their own cigars and I said I'd just share.  There is no way that I could smoke a whole one myself.  (I'm a lady, remember?  Ladies don't do things like that...well not well behaved ones anyway...lol.)  And boy am I glad that I didn't get my own.  I ended up smoking Tom's cigar because after two or three puffs he decided that he didn't want his any more!  I also ended up with his scotch because, as he stated, you can't drink scotch without a cigar.  Hmmm....lol.

 Here's Tom with his cigar and scotch...before he handed it to me.

 My brother, the ham...lol.

  The hubby, looking very smashing in his blazer.  Yum, yum. :)

We smoked cigars on the pool deck.  It was freezing by the way.  Thanks for caring.  Glad I brought a jacket to throw on over my tank top.

Studly, guys, just studly.

Even though it was cold, I made the best of it and held my own with the boys.  I even got a few thumbs up from other male passengers.  Sometimes it pays off to be able to run with the boys.

Day 6: What to do when you're out at sea?

What does one do when out at sea?  Wine tastings, of course!

Honestly, the wine was great, but what made the experience really fun were the people hosting the tasting.  They were funny and informative.  Plus a little wine goes a long way in helping people to loosen up and mingle, so we made a few friends here too.  All of which made for a great experience.

La'akea sampling the first wine.  Can you tell he's not a huge fan of white wine?  Lol...

All of the tasting samples and the cheese and baguettes that they served with it.  There was a Havarti cheese that was too die for!  It was creamy with a slight nutty flavor.  I have yet to find it again.  So Havarti lovers, hit me up! :(

If you zoom in you can see the labels of all the wines that we sampled that day.  All were yummy, but my favorite was the Tintara.

Day 5: Back on board!

The day was coming to an end and it was time to get back on the boat.

 Here's the view of us leaving the harbor.  I must say, Mexico is pretty, but Hawai'i is prettier.  (I may be a little biased though...just a little.)

 Argh!  It's the Disney pirate ships!

 Cheese!

 My Uncle Tom and Aunty Alysa.  It was nice spending the day with them on our tour of the city.

After our long day out and about we were ready to eat dinner and relax.  Sorry to see you go Mexico, but it's time to head back to the states. :)

Halloween 2011

*Again sorry for the lateness on this post.  I'm batting zero for getting things posted on time.  I'll be better this year.  Promise.

For Halloween this past year we decided to do something different from past years.  Of course there would still be dressing up and of course there would still be partying, but you know, something to make this year stand out from all the rest.  So a group of us opted to stay the night in Waikiki.

We ended up staying at the Trump International Hotel.  It was beautiful, to say the least, and we had a blast.  If you haven't stayed there, you should.  I would highly recommend it...though the pool is tiny.  That was the only real drawback.

 This was the view from our room.  Pretty nice, eh?

 La'akea hanging out on the couch.  Resting up for the fun night ahead.

The tiny pool as modeled by the lovely Jordan.  It should really be called a large bathtub...lol.

We started the night off with dinner at Yardhouse.  Beer and onion rings?!  What more does a girl need?  (Seriously though, their onion rings are the best onion rings I've ever had, EVER.  If you haven't had them, go down and get yourself some.  Yum!  With a pint of Guinness, to die for!)

Once we were all fueled up, we headed back to the hotel to change into our costumes.

I was getting ready and people were taking pictures of my behind...thanks guys!

*Tangent: Costume Explanation.  I know that you were all around for last year's Halloween costume, where I was a cancan dancer.  I hit the gym super hard to fit into that costume.  So this year I thought why not up the bar?  If I could do it last year I could do it this year too, right?  

Thus, I opted for the Playboy Club Bunny costume circa the 1960s.  (I was kind of obsessed with that show when it was on tv for like 3 episodes...waaaaahhhhh for it being cancelled!)  I mean what's hotter than a Bunny?  (No really.  What is hotter than a Bunny?  Because I need to start looking for Halloween costume ideas for this year.)  

Also, coinciding with the birthday trauma of being yet another year closer to 30, I'm not sure how much longer I'll even want to workout to fit into said sexy Halloween costumes.  I figure my years are numbered.  So it's go big or go home at this point.  

During October, I shamelessly dragged Jordan to the gym three times a week for grueling 2 hour workouts that included numerous curls, rows, chest presses, squats, push-ups, burpies; You name it, we did them...over and over and over again and then did 30 minutes of cardio after that.  It was awful, but somehow rewarding.  So sorry Jordan for all the psychotic Navy Seal type workouts and thanks for sticking with me through it all. :)

Okay back to the post...

 Jordan and I.  All the gym time was worth it, right? 

 La'akea was Charlie Sheen.  I think he does a pretty good Sheen face.

 Kaylin shying away from the camera.

 The super heroes.  Since we're friends I'll tell you who's behind the masks.  L to R: The Flash (Storm), Batman (Tom), Spiderman (Shane), and Captain Planet (Zac)

 Spiderman perched on the couch is my favorite.  Totally classic!

 All the girls! L to R: Sailor Pin-up Girl (Kaylin), Playboy Club Bunny (Me), Fallen Angel (Jordan), and School Girl (Danielle).

This is just too cute for words!

In true Waikiki Halloween fashion, we took a stroll down the strip.

 We posed in front of stores...  (I love this photo by the way!  The silhouettes came out awesome.)

 Close-up!

And posed with tourists.  Look we found Thor!

Then we ended the night with drinks and dancing at The Villa nightclub.

I'm not sure who took this.  I think it was one of the club promoters.

 Dancing, dancing, dancing.  She's a dancing machine.  Name that band...

 This guy had an awesome costume made out of rope light.  Very cool and creative!

The girls at the end of the night waiting for a cab back to the hotel.

All in all, I have to say that Halloween 2011 rocked hardcore.  Now to plan for next year!

*Costume Information (if anyone ever wants to be a Bunny): I bought my costume from Stage Fright online in a size medium.  It came with the bodysuit, ears, cuffs, collar with the bow tie, and a tail.

Is this the costume that I am actually wearing in these pictures?  Yes and no.  

Yes, I am wearing all the pieces that it came with, but I tweaked them.  

The collar and cuffs were huge!  Like grown man dressing as a Chippendale huge.  So I took them apart and took them in a bit...like about two inches or so for each piece.  I told you they were huge!  (*Getting on my soapbox*  I am appalled by the amount of young ladies who do not know how to sew.  Granted I'm not the best seamstress, but I can take in an item if needed and sew on buttons and what-not.  I think that it is a valuable skill to have, even if it is somewhat of a dying art.  So please send your little girls to sewing classes when they are young.  They may not appreciate it at the time, but they'll thank you later.  You know, when they have to take in the cuffs of their Halloween costume.  Thank you! *Getting off of my soapbox*)

I also added a hook and eye closure to the top of the zipper on the bodysuit.  Without the hook and eye closure the whole thing unzips a little each time you walk.  That could have been a disaster, eh?  Lol...

Lastly, I redid the tail.  The tail that comes with the costume is just feather fluff pasted onto a flat cardboard circle.  The real Playboy Club Bunnies had yarn tails.  (Yes, I researched it.  I'm a super dork.  Were you expecting any less?  I wanted to be authentic.)  So I made a yarn pom pom and hot glued it over the original tail.  Thus, resulting in a larger, fluffier, and more authentic looking bunny tail.

So yes, the costume did require extra work, but I think that "the juice was worth the squeeze." (Name that movie...)

Nailed it!

I'm not usually one to blog about products, but I found one that I love and am quickly coming to think that I cannot live without.

It is dry nail appliques (aka stick on nail polish).  Just stick it on and you're done!  No worry about dinging, scraping, or otherwise damaging the manicure that you just slaved over for 30 minutes.  Plus they come in all these fun patterns!  (I'm sure that you could make this pattern yourself, but I, personally, do not have the patience for that...lol.)

This brand is Incoco, though I have used Sally Hansen Salon Effects as well.  They are both good and are priced similarly, but the Incoco ones come with more strips and larger sized strips so that you can do your toes and fingernails.  I used one Incoco package to do my fingers and toes and still have enough strips leftover to do my fingernails one more time!  Score!(You just have to be careful with the placement and cut the strips in half.)

So order up, ladies!  They're worth it.

*Just in case you were wondering, I was not paid for this post.  Since we're friends, I thought I'd let you in on the secret of nail appliques.  Lucky you.  :)

**Also, this picture was taken about a week after I put them on.  So sorry for the poor state of my nails.  This was after a weekend at the pool, hanging out with friends, shopping, doing numerous amounts of dishes, etc.  That being the case, they held up pretty well, eh?

Birthday, birthday, birthday!

*So I know that this post is only like 3 months late, but better late than never, right?

This year I turned 27.  As my mother keeps reminding me, "Only 3 more years until you're 30.  Then you'll really be old."  Thank you Mom for always keeping it real...lol.

Leading up to 'B-Day', I went through the various stages that each passing birthday brings; the shock of another year going by so quickly, the realization that I am yet another year closer to the 'dreaded 30', the reflection of past years, the wonder of what the next year will bring, the excitement for what presents I may or may not be receiving.   After this lengthy thought process, I decided that 27 was going to be my year for fun and self-discovery.  What better way to kick start the year than with a party?

I am totally in love with Prima, a new Italian restaurant in Kailua.  So of course I had to have my party there!  Everything you eat there is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  Their pizza is pure perfection.  That chewy crust.  The freshly pulled mozzarella cheese.  The simplistic pizza sauce that lets the toppings be the star.  Their pizza is like an orgasm for your taste buds.  Yum.  Yum.  YUM!  (I really need to work there so that I can find out how they make their pizza crust.  It is crave worthy!)

Since it was my birthday, but mostly since I made reservations for a party of 13, I got to work with the chef to design a special birthday menu.  (Okay so it was totally because we had a big party and not at all because it was my birthday...a girl can dream can't she?)

Arielle's Birthday Menu

Appetizers

Fennel Penna Cotta

Beets and Taleggio Cheese

Crudo Ahi

Main Dishes

Veal Sweet Breads

Steak with Fingerling Potatoes

Sopressatta pizza

Prosciutto and Arugula pizza

Dessert

Torrone alla Banana

Everything was delicious!  If you haven't eaten there yet, make a reservation right now.  Go ahead.  I'll wait.  Did you make a reservation?  Good.  We can still be friends.

Only downside, I was too busy eating to remember to take pictures of the food.  I know, sad Christmas.  However, I did remember to take a few shots of the people who came to the party.  Sorry in advance for the blurry photos.  It was a combination of wine and bad lighting that caused the bluriness...lol.

 The group on the left hand table. L to R: La'akea, Jordan, Storm, Danielle, Tom, Adam, and Jenna. 

 The group on the right hand table.  L to R: Cheynah, Brandi, Chelsea, Nate, Jordan (Yes, there were two Jordans.), and me.

Cheynah and I.  Without her fitness know-how to help to whip me into shape, I would never be able to afford to eat all this delicious food.

 The faces in these two pictures were too priceless to not post.

 I also really love this picture, but am not sure what Tom was doing...lol.

Thanks to all who helped me celebrate, whether in person or with well wishes!  All your love is truly a blessing.  27 is going to be the best year yet!